Family Matters
by vescaria
Summary: For yumeniai. Based on the universe of The Rebirth of Dame Tsuna. Just about everyone had an opinion of Tsuna before they met him, but how did those opinions come to change after meeting the oddball boss of the Vongola? Mentions of established 8027.


**Family Matters**

**Vescaria**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

**Warnings**: OOC!Tsuna, AU, Canon!SLAUGHTER, HUGE hints at homosexual relationships

**Notes for the Reviewers**:This is yumeniai's request/prize for leaving the 100th review for the Rebirth of Dame-Tsuna!This story is based on that universe as well so it may be confusing if you haven't read it already. However, not that some of the future stuff in this story may diverge from the plot of the Rebirth of Dame-Tsuna since I haven't planned all the way to the end.

**Note about posting**: I probably won't be posting nearly as much since I start college on Monday, and I have no idea how much work I'll be getting from my professors. Just hang tight, guys! I love you all too much to abandon you!

**X**

Opinions matter.

At least, that's what they tell you anyway.

The Guardians, most of them, had known Tsuna at his weakest, during that time when he still bore that horrid nickname that's never spoken under pain of death. At the beginning of middle school, Takeshi could remember feeling sorry for Tsuna, the tiny teenager who had no friends, no talents, and more bullies on his tail than any other guy in Namimori Middle. Looking back on those days, Takeshi wonders why he wasn't more concerned, why he didn't bother to stick up for the guy sooner, but he guesses, rightly so, that it was a mixture of many things. For one, he had been afraid to be the _one_ person to stick up for the notorious Dame-Tsuna. After all, you risked quite a lot when siding with a bully's victim.

Then, out of nowhere it seemed, they had shared a strange moment together, and he couldn't let go of the notion of making Tsuna his friend. _"He just suddenly outshined my beloved baseball,"_ the swordsman would joke after a couple rounds of the alcoholic beverage of choice—much to Tsuna's horror. After that moment on the roof, Takeshi became friends with the other boy through sheer determination, a hell of a lot of sushi, and a pretty mean beating dealt to them by some bullies. After that, his life had consisted of Tsuna, baseball, and his old man's Shigure Souen Ryu. Nowadays, almost ten years later, his life had retained only two of the previous three items—his beloved Tsuna and his old man's style. Takeshi figured it was because he was such a simple man. Tsuna wouldn't mind correcting him,_ "More like simple-minded. Don't have much room in there for much else, do you?" _

Takeshi would laugh, raising a brow, _"Oh, I'm sure there's something else." _Tsuna had the nasty habit of turning into a prude at such words, locking him out of their room and calling him all sorts of names in Japanese and Italian— all of which sounded strangely cute (and sexy) coming out of the Sky's mouth, Takeshi thought. Hibari, disturbed by the ruckus, would tell the swordsman to keep his masochistic ways in the bedroom and away from the public areas of the base (or he'd get bitten to death). Shortly after that, their boss would open the door, reluctant and angry, but would allow him to enter their rooms. Most of the nights after, Takeshi mused fondly, he'd end up sleeping on the couch.

The Guardian of Cloud, Hibari Kyoya, respected Tsuna, a fellow carnivore. He had, in the very beginning, thought Tsuna was a weakling, a pathetic herbivore unable to defend himself against stronger, more annoying herbivores. That opinion had warped into something quite different with a few battles, and Hibari was convinced that Tsuna was about as worthy a man as could be found in his peaceful Namimori. They kept space between them, but there was a kinship there that would never have been spoken of aloud—not until the business with the rings. Becoming the Cloud Guardian had meant more power and being close to Tsuna, one of the only carnivores in a sea of annoying, petty herbivores. It was just an added bonus that _that_ baby, Reborn, came with the package.

And it gave him the perfect chance to bite that awful man, Mukuro, to death. How could he object to such a perfect situation?

Shoichi would beg to differ about that 'perfect' bit, but he had become content with life—somewhat. His first opinion of Tsuna had been formed after the incident with Mochida, and Shoichi, being the wimp that he was, had been terrified of the boy he had never met. Hell, even after their first meeting he had been terrified. Tsuna was a force to be reckoned with, a hellish demon bent on destruction and killing _him_, or at least, that's what it had seemed like after day one of training. The opinion of Tsuna only dipped further into despair with the issuing of the gun, but Shoichi began to feel grateful later. _Much later._

His friends were freaks; the Guardian of Lightning would never deny that. Their boss was a terrifying man who wasn't afraid of much, and said boss also wasn't afraid of putting the fear of heaven and hell into them _daily, hourly_, and _minutely_. Yet, at the present, he respected Tsuna so much it was almost absurd. Their boss had blossomed into a fearsome protector, an unorthodox one, but a protector nonetheless. Shoichi still got stomachaches at some of the jobs his boss dealt him, but he figured it was the price you paid to be friends with a demon like Tsuna. He couldn't say he was sorry about it. (Not much anyway.)

Sasagawa Ryohei spoke for himself and his sister when he said that he hadn't really thought twice about Tsuna until that moment in the dojo with Mochida. Ryohei had been concerned with one thing then and that was being _extreme_. That, of course, hadn't changed much. Back in the day he would have never labeled their boss as such, but the one-sided fight between Tsuna and Mochida had opened his eyes considerably. He had become obsessed, much like Takeshi had been, with becoming friends with the _extreme_ teenager. Such an obsession had led to his and his sister's involvement in the mafia, and Ryohei couldn't bring himself to be sorry about it. Tsuna was still as _extreme_ perhaps even more so than the first day they had met, and he was glad that his opinion had changed. The boxer could only imagine how boring his life would have been if he hadn't met the Vongola boss. It wouldn't have nearly been so _extreme_ as it was now, and that was a sad thought indeed.

Gokudera Hayato, the Vongola's Storm Guardian, had been disappointed when he first heard about the Vongola's Tenth. Supposedly he was a weak-minded idiot who couldn't get anything right, and apparently, from Reborn's information, he had no talent for anything. _Anything_. _"I'd be more suited for the position than this loser,"_ he had thought back then, and, to his upmost surprise, Reborn had asked him to test the Vongola Decimo. It had been the perfect chance for him, an outcast in the mafia world, to prove his worth. Everything would finally work out for him.

That thought, it turned out, was quite wrong, of course.

Yamamoto Takeshi had demolished his pride and his opinion of the one-day mafia boss. The powerful display immediately made him feel tiny and insignificant, and he knew he would never be happy until he was a subordinate of this new, earth-shaking boss. That, as it turned out, ended up being a harder feat than he thought, and Hayato could remember being beaten up and hospitalized several times before he ever gained the acceptance of the Tenth. _"Good work, Hayato," _the man had said for the first time. And in that instant, those words filled him with warmth, and he was grateful for the day he had met Sawada Tsunayoshi—no matter how difficult the journey had been to get to the present.

Mukuro, the Mist Guardian, had been furious at the weak-looking boss. Or maybe it had been the fact that the boy had accepted the mafia? Such a dirty world. The man was concerned with one thing, and it was tearing down the walls of the mafia world and drenching it in blood and destruction. That, he found, would be impossible with someone such as Tsuna being boss. _"You have a perfectly good body, Mukuro," _ the other teenager had said flatly. _"You don't need mine. So keep your damn hands to yourself, you pervert!"_ Suddenly the weak-minded boss became someone respectable in Mukuro's eyes—though he would never say so. He could see Tsuna making the changes necessary in making the mafia an acceptable network again, and he gave up his quest to take over the young man's body.

That didn't stop him from saying otherwise however, and _that,_ certainly, was the reason Tsuna made sure to have Hibari keep an eye (or two) on his Mist Guardian. One pervert—Takeshi—was enough for Tsuna to deal with.

Reborn had been expecting a weak boss, someone like his previous student, Dino, but what he got was something right up on his to-do list with cleaning the toilet and getting shot in the head. Needless to say, Tsuna wasn't at all what he had been expecting. Iemitsu made it seem like his son was a delicate flower, too delicate in fact, with no spine and no sort of leadership sense. He made it seem as if he were a clone of Cavallone's newest boss, and if there was one thing Reborn really hated, it was getting tipped with the wrong information. (And you can bet Iemitsu received some rather _unpleasant _surprises right after Reborn's and Tsuna's first meeting.) He has been impressed though he hadn't shown it with the Tsuna he received.

Headstrong. Witty. Promising. If only they could cure him of his prudish nature, he'd be perfect; however, that seemed to be trait he'd forever carry with him. It was a shame for Takeshi, Reborn thought, but really, it wasn't something to really worry about too much. He, the Vongola's number one hitman, could straighten him out if need be—later. It was more fun to watch the boss get all flustered when accused of perverted things, and it gave the tutor a perfect excuse to beat up on his reluctant student. He was glad Iemitsu had been wrong about his son. Life wouldn't have been nearly as interesting if Tsuna had been a wimp—or maybe it would have been but we'll never know will we?

Xanxus had been appalled. Just about everyone was trash in his eyes, but this _supposed_ successor was the dirtiest bit of toilet paper at the bottom of the garbage bin. After learning he wasn't really the son of the Ninth, he had been bent on revenge. Nothing would stop him from taking this piece of garbage out for good, and it didn't matter what he was like at all. He hadn't heard much about the Vongola's (supposed) Tenth, but he didn't feel he needed to know much. Xanxus had been ready to take over the family since he had been taken in by the Ninth, and no little _brat_ was going to step up and take his future from him.

His first few bits of intel came, surprisingly enough, from the outside advisor. _"Ah, my Tsuna? Why he's the most adorable and cute son a father could ask for!"_ The man, to Xanxus's horror, had proceeded to take a picture from his billfold and kiss it lovingly. There was no way the son of this scum was going to take over the Family, he decided, and he began to make arrangements for a takeover. Obviously his "father" was crazy if he was going to let someone like Sawada Tsunayoshi take charge, and it was his duty, as a member of the Vongola, to ensure the survival of their family. (And that, _of course,_ meant kidnapping his father and staging an elaborate battle out for the Vongola rings.)

He had been more than surprised when the _boy_ gave him a once over without flinching. Maybe Iemitsu was blind. There was no way this kid could ever be described as "adorable" or "cute". The rest of the members of the Varia had come to Japan with the same opinion of the newest Vongola boss and his Family. They would be weak. They would be pathetic. (And they would die at their hands—but that part's not really an opinion, is it?)

Xanxus was surprised when the kid managed to put up a good fight, and was even more surprised to see where the "adorable" and "cute" came from. The Vongola's Storm Guardian had gone down (not a big surprise), and the swordsman standing next to Tsuna had quietly stated that Tsuna _had_ to care a little about Hayato or else he wouldn't have stalled the match. Red faced, the other teenager had delivered a rain of kicks down upon his Rain Guardian, and Xanxus found himself laughing. _"Iemitsu was right. Adorable and cute."_ His expression turned deadly. _"Exactly the kind of trash that is unfit to become the next boss."_ To his surprise, Tsuna had stopped his onslaught to glare the hell out of the leader of the Varia.

"_Says the one who's going to lose to a high school student," _the kid had the audacity to say.

As it turned out, he was right. Xanxus grudgingly acknowledged the other as the rightful boss, but he wouldn't pass up a chance to make fun of Tsuna's height or the nature of his relationship with his Rain Guardian. Takeshi tended to laugh it off, but Tsuna, Xanxus found, was an awful prude.

Tsuna thought they were all too loud, too clingy, and entirely too open about perverted things (especially Takeshi and Mukuro). They were crazy, destructive, and made him spend entirely too much money on repairs monthly (Hibari and Hayato). Yet, he refused to part with them. Despite how batty they drove him, despite how much he wanted to _kill_ them sometimes, they were _family_.


End file.
